Determining Open Education Related Social Media … · Facebook also draws attention for being the most accessed social network site in ... see that the most widely used social media

Received: January 29, 2016Revision received: December 9, 2016Accepted: February 14, 2017OnlineFirst: May 5, 2017

Copyright © 2017 EDAMwww.estp.com.tr

DOI 10.12738/estp.2017.4.0266 August 2017 17(4) 1361–1382

Research Article

KURAM VE UYGULAMADA EĞİTİM BİLİMLERİ EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE

1Department of Distance Education, Open Education Faculty, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26470 Turkey. Email:[email protected]

2Correspondence to:HakanAltınpulluk,DepartmentofDistanceEducation,OpenEducationFaculty,AnadoluUniversity,Eskişehir26470Turkey.Email:[email protected]

3Department of Distance Education, Open Education Faculty, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26470 Turkey. Email:[email protected]

4Department of Distance Education, Open Education Faculty, Anadolu University, Eskişehir 26470 Turkey. Email: [email protected]

Citation:Fırat,M.,Altınpulluk,H.,Kılınç,H.,&Büyük,K.(2017).DeterminingopeneducationrelatedsocialmediausagetrendsinTurkeyusingaholisticsocialnetworkanalysis.Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 17,1361–1382.http://dx.doi.org/10.12738/estp.2017.4.0266

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal Open Education related social media usage in Turkey through social net-

work analyses. To this end, the most widely used social media network in Turkey, Facebook, was chosen.

All the pages and groups created on Facebook related to Open Education were found. A total of 207 groups

and 521 pages were accessed and entered into the social network analysis. Within the scope of this study, the

density and centrality features of the network were analyzed for groups whereas the density, centrality, and

degrees features of the network were analyzed for pages. The study’s results revealed that while pages and

groups related to programs emphasizing current job opportunities and student support services were more

actively used, commercial accounts attempted to exploit students’ exam anxiety instead of generating actual

content. The findings also revealed that well structured institutional pages appeal to students and have the

potential to reach high levels of popular in short periods of time.

Keywords Open education • Social media • Facebook • Social network • Social network analysis

MehmetFırat1Anadolu University

HakanAltınpulluk2Anadolu University

HakanKılınç3

Anadolu UniversityKöksalBüyük4

Anadolu University

Determining Open Education Related Social Media Usage Trends in Turkey Using a Holistic

Social Network Analysis

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EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE

Therapiddevelopmentoftheinternethasgivenbirthtosocialnetworksitesthathavefoundthemselvesamongthemostfrequentlyusedinternetapplicationswithinaveryshortperiodoftime(Wang,Jackson,Gaskin,&Wang,2014).Testifyingtothis fact, 2016 data reveals that 2.307 billion out of 3.419 billion (67%) internetusersworldwideareactivesocialmediausers(Kemp,2016),demonstratingjusthowwidely socialmedia networks have been adopted. Societies have rapidly adoptedsocialnetworks,whichbybringingindividualstogetherindifferentways,likegameplaying, tagging, working, online socializing, collaboration and communication(Ghali, Panda, Hassanien, Abraham, & Snasel, 2012). With the emergence ofsocial networks, interactions between individuals have changed to a great extent,andwith the internetandmobiledevicesbecomingsowidespread,awidevarietyofcollaborativelearningopportunitiesandnewe-learningplatformshaveemerged(Stantchev,Prieto-González,&Tamm,2015).

AccordingtoKim,Jeong,andLee(2010),socialnetworksitesaredefinedasavirtualvenuefacilitatinginternetuserstoreachoutandcommunicatewitheachotherandinwhichonlinesocietiesareestablished.AccordingtoJuncoandMastrodicasa(2007), socialnetwork sites arealso theeasiestway toconnect inadisconnectedworld. Ingeneral, thesesitesareusedbysocieties forsocialcommunicationsandentertainment purposes (Wang et al., 2014).Todaymany social network sites areused for various purposes. The most popular being blog-type social networks(Facebook,Google+,tumblr),microblognetworks(Twitter),professionalnetworks(LinkedIn,XING),photographyrelatednetworks(Instagram),videobasednetworks(YouTube, Vine, Instagram video), and networks in which personal interests areshared(Pinterest)(Stantchevetal.,2015).

Providinglearnerswithopportunitiestoparticipateinbothlearningandcoursegroups,socialnetworksarewidelyusedineducationenvironmentsandhavebecomethesubjectofvariousstudies.AccordingtoAl-Rahmi,Othman,andYusuf(2015), theuseofsocialmedia sites in educational activities increases academic performance, satisfaction, engagement, collaboration, and interaction with instructors. According to Wheeler,Yeomans, andWheeler (2008), benefitting from social network sites in educationalenvironments provides learnerswith opportunities to share their opinions, show theircreativity,andreceivefeedbackfromtheirfriends.Providinglearnerswithawidearrayofopportunities,socialmediauseinlearningenvironmentscontinuestoincreasebothin traditional classes (inside the classroom) and in online open anddistance learningenvironments(outsidetheclassroom)(Blaschke,2014;Seaman&Tinti-Kane,2013).

AccordingtoBlaschke(2014),socialmediaprovidesinstructorswithopportunitynotonlytosupportthedevelopmentoflearners’skillsandcompetenciesbutalsotoincludetheminonlineclassesaspartofeitheropenordistancelearningsystems.The

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Fırat, Altınpulluk, Kılınç, Büyük / Determining Open Education Related Social Media Usage Trends in Turkey Using a Holistic...

literatureincludescertainstudiesontheuseofsocialmediatoincreaseinteractionbetween learnersand instructors inopenanddistance learningenvironments (VanWyk,2014).Astudyconducted inIGNOU,anopenuniversity inIndia, identifiedtheobjectivesof internetuseand revealed thatopenanddistance learnersmostlyused(80%)suchsocialmediaasFacebook, Twitter,YouTube,andBlogsforlearningand teaching purposes (Awadhiya, Miglani, & Gowthaman, 2014). In anotherstudy revealing the importanceof socialmediause inopen anddistance learningenvironments, ÖzmenandAtıcı(2014b)notonlyconcludedthatlearnersusingsocialmediainopenanddistancelearningenvironmentsdeveloppositiveattitudestowardlessons but also reported increased quality of communication between “learner- learner” and “instructor – learner.”Another study byÖzmen andAtıcı (2014a)comparedtheacademicachievementsofinstructorsonthebasisoftheiruseoflearningmanagementsystemsandsocialmedia.Conductedon75undergraduatelearnersinTurkey,theresultsoftheirresearchrevealednotonlythatsocialmediasupportinopenanddistance learningactivitieshadpositiveeffectsonstudents’academicsuccessbutalsothattheuseoflearningmanagementsystemsinopenanddistancelearningsystemsmust be supported by socialmedia. In another study comparing learningmanagementsystemsandsocialmedia,ThomsandEryilmaz(2014)statedthatsocialmediaprovidedstudentsgreatersatisfactionintermsofsocialinteractionandtheirperceptionoflessongroupsthandidlearningmanagementsystems.Additionally,theresultsoftheirsocialnetworkanalysisverifiedthatonlinesocialmediaprovidedagreaternumberofinteractionsandamoreinterestinglearningexperience.

Socialmedia strengthens the communication aswell as the interaction inopenanddistancelearningenvironments(Özmen&Atıcı,2014b).Socialmediacanbeusedasaneffectivetechnologicaltooltostrengthenonlinecommunicationinopenanddistancelearningenvironmentswithinthescopeofhighereducationand,whencomparedwithface-to-facelearning, theuseofsocialmedia inopenanddistancelearningenvironmentsprovidesabettercommunicationenvironmentamonglearners(Brady, Holcomb, & Smith, 2010). According to Moore’s (1993) transactional distanceapproach,openanddistancelearnersarethoselearnerswhomostfrequentlydealandcopewith the“senseofdistance” that learnersfeel.Therefore,due to itsheavyuseof internationandcommunication, theuseofsocialmedia inopenanddistance learning environment is important for open and distance learners’ as itallowsthemtheopportunitytointeractsocially,whichtherebydecreasestheir“senseofdistance.”OneofthemostwidelyknownWeb2.0applicationsusedeffectivelyinopenanddistancelearningenvironmentsisthesocialmedianetworkFacebook (McLoughlin&Lee,2007).

Firstestablishedasalocalsocialmediaconnectinguniversitystudentstooneanother,Facebookhas,withits1.18billiondailyactiveusersand1.79billionmonthlyactive

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users as per thedataofSeptember2016 (Facebook, 2016), become the fastest andeasiestwayfor individuals tosocialize(Ainin,Naqshbandi,Moghavvemi,&Jaafar,2015).FacebookalsodrawsattentionforbeingthemostaccessedsocialnetworksiteintheworldandthesecondmostpopularwebsiteafterGoogle(Alexa,2016).

By providing opportunities for communication, knowledge sharing, makingfriends, sending privatemessages, chatting, tagging, creating photograph albums,joiningsocialgroups,experiencingdifferentonlineapplicationsandplayinggames,Facebookpresentsitsusersthepossibilityofcreatingpersonalizedprofiles(Mazman&Usluel,2010).Inaddition,Facebookprovidesavenueforcommercialpromotionsandadvertisementapplications(Chan,2011;Chu,2011).Withthesefeatures,ithasbecomenotonlypopularamonglearnersandinstructorsbutalsoanalmostintegralpartofsociallife(Deng&Tavares,2013;Junco,2012).Asaresult,itisthesocialmedianetworkusedbythevastmajorityofthestudentsbothinTurkeyandworldwide(Öztürk&Akgün,2012).

Whenusedforlearningpurposes,Facebookincreasescommunication,interaction,collaboration,andthesharingofresources, therebycontributingto thedevelopmentoflearningprocesses(Sánchez,Cortijo,&Javed,2014).Byalsoprovidinginformalandunstructured learningenvironments,Facebookprovidesavenuesfor learners’ toachievetheiracademicpurposesandtoworkinacollaborativemanner(Selwyn,2009).

There are certain studies discussing the use of Facebook in open and distancelearningenvironments.AccordingtoWiid,Cant,andNell(2013),themostwidelyusedsocialmedianetworkbyopenanddistancelearnersisFacebook.Throughtheonlinelearningenvironmentsithosts,Facebookincreaseslearner-learnerinteraction,ensuresthatinstructorsbecomebetteracquaintedwiththeirstudents,andsupportstheformationofricherinstructor-learnercooperation(Susilo,2008).Anotherstudyconducted by AydınandÖzkeskin (2012)emphasizes thatFacebook ispopular inopenanddistancelearningenvironmentsinTurkey.Accordingly,openanddistancelearnersinTurkeymostlyuseFacebook,andagreatmajorityoftheselearnersarereadytousesocialmediaforlearningpurposes.

Facebook hosts a high volumeof interaction, and connections among its usersareveryintense(Sánchezetal.,2014;Susilo,2008).Therefore,Facebookmaybesuggestedasanappropriateplatformforsocialmediaanalysis.

ProblemTechnologyplaysakeyroleinopenanddistancelearningduetoitspotentialto

enrichinteraction,delivereducation,andensurecommunicationamongindividuals(Koçak-Usluel & Mazman, 2009). One of the most significant technological

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componentsusedinopenanddistancelearningenvironmentsissocialmedia.Inoneof the studies supporting this argument,AndersonandDron (2011)separate open anddistance learningpedagogy into threegenerations: (i)Cognitive–behaviorism,(ii)Constructivism,and(iii)Connectivism.Accordingly,theystatethatWeb2.0andsocialmediaarethemostimportanttechnologicalcomponentsofthethirdgeneration,Connectivism.Additionally,Moore andKearsley (2011) cite various technologiesused in open and distance learning, including “print, audio/video recordings(podcasts), computer conferencing,webbased learning, socialmedia, andmobiletechnology,” emphasizing that socialmedia has strong elements of collaboration,immediacy, andparticipatory. In this context, the studies available in the relevantliterature show that not only are socialmedia networkswidely used in open anddistance learning environments, they also yield positive results (Awadhiya et al.,2014;Blaschke,2014;Seaman&Tinti-Kane,2013;Thoms&Eryilmaz,2014).

Similarly,therelevantstudiesrevealthatthoseopeneducation(OE)institutionsprovidingopenanddistancelearningservicesinTurkeymakeintensiveuseofsocialmedia and that this has positive effects on learners’ success (Aydın&Özkeskin,2012; Elitaş, 2015; Erdem&Kibar, 2014).When we examine these studies, wesee that themostwidelyusedsocialmedianetwork inOEisFacebook.AlthoughFacebook iswidelyusedbyOElearners inTurkey, itpresents itselfasaproblemin that thereareavery limitednumberof studies thathave investigated trendsofFacebookuseforeducationalpurposesatthenationallevel(Elitaş,2015).Assuch,usingaholisticsocialmediaanalysismethodwilladdressthisspecificdeficiencyintherelevantliterature.

Significance of the Current StudyWhenweconsiderthat46.01%ofthehighereducationstudentsinTurkeyarein

OEinstitutionsasofthe2015-2016academicyear(YüksekÖğretimKurulu[YÖK],2016),itcanbesaidthatOEplaysanimportantandcriticalroleintheTurkishhighereducationsystem.ConductingaholisticsocialnetworkanalysisonhowOEstudentsusesocialmedianetworks,especiallythatofFacebook,sinceitisthemostactivelyusedsocialmedianetworkinTurkey(Kemp,2016)isimportantin:

• Determiningtheprogramstowardwhichlearnersareinclined,

• ClarifyingwhichFacebookpagesandgroupsdrawmoreattraction,

• DeterminingwhichOEinstitutionshaveagreatersocialmediapresence,

• PresentingthecurrentsituationwithrespecttosocialmediauseinOE,

• Revealingpossibledeficiencieswithrespecttosocialmediause,and

• PresentingdatathatmaybeusedbyinstitutionsprovidingOEservices.

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Aim of the Current StudyThisstudyaims touseaholisticsocialnetworkanalysis torevealsocialmedia

usetrendsinOEinTurkey.SinceitisthemostwidelyusedsocialmediainTurkey,Facebookhasbeenchosenforanalysis.Facebookgroupsandpagesareamongthemosteffectivesocialmediatoolsthatmaybeusedbothtodeterminenotonlylearners’inclinationsand interestsbutalsouser trends (Chou&Pi,2015;Yunus&Salehi,2012).Inthiscontext,thecurrentstudyconductsaholisticsocialnetworkanalysisofallFacebookgroupsandpagescreatedtoaddressOEprogramsinTurkey.InordertodeterminethecurrentsituationandtrendsofOEstudents’useofFacebook,thisstudyanalyzesthedensity,centralityanddegreesofrelatedFacebookgroups,ontheonehand,andthedensity,centrality,anddegreesofrelatedFacebookpages.

MethodThisstudywasdesignedasasocialnetworkanalysisstudy.Diversificationand

thewidespreaduseofsocialmediahas increasedthepopularityofsocialnetworkanalysis concept lately (Luo&Zhong, 2015). Social network analyses follow ananalyticalmethodtoexaminetherelationsbetweengroupsofnodesandconnections(Lee&Bonk,2016).Thenodesrepresenttheindividualactorswhiletheconnectionsshowtherelationsbetweentheseactors(Lee&Bonk,2016).Socialnetworkanalysesarecomprisedofa seriesof techniquesandmethodsstemming from the relationsbetween different actors (individuals, groups, organizations) and either concrete(materials, services) or abstract (information, social support, effects) resources(Haythornthwaite, 1996). Emphasizing that social structure is an interpersonalnetwork,thismethodinterpretstheinterpersonalrelationsexistentinsocialmedia,itscontent,andsocialphenomena(Luo&Zhong,2015).

Socialnetworkanalysesprovidebothavisualandstatisticalanalysisonhumanrelations (Shea et al., 2010) and through the use of graph theory and structuraltheory,theypresentanassessmentofsuchnetworkpropertiesasdensity,centrality,connectivity,betweenness,anddegree,(Dawson,Tan,&McWilliam,2011).Socialnetworkanalysesemploytwotypesofnetworkanalysis;onebeingan“egonetworkanalysis”and theothera“holisticnetworkanalysis” (Akhtar,2014).Accordingly,anegonetworkanalysisdealswiththeanalysisofindividualnodeswhileaholisticnetworkanalysisexaminestherelationsbetweenmanynodes.

ThisstudyusesaholisticsocialnetworkanalysistoexamineallFacebookgroupsandpagesoriginatingfromTurkeythathavemanynodesrelatedtoOE.Accordingly,thecurrentstudyanalyzesthedensity,centrality,anddegreepropertiesofpagesandgroupsthroughtheuseofgraphtheoryandstructuraltheory.

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Data Collection ProcessInordertofindFacebookpagesandgroupsthatnotonlyoriginatefromTurkey

butarealsorelatedtoOE,Gephi’sNetvizzv1.25applicationwasutilized.EnteringtheacronymAÖF(AçıkÖğretimFakültesi–OpenEducationFaculty)intothesearchmoduleofthisapplication,aquerywasrun.Thismodulepresentsaninterfacethatallowsforpagesgroups,locations,andeventsonFacebooktobesearched.AÖFhasbecomeacommonlyusedabbreviationtorefertoOEservicesinTurkey.ThereforeOErelatedpagesandgroupsinFacebookhavebeenusingthisabbreviationintheirtitles or explanations.As a result of thequeries runusingNetvizz, a total of 207groupsand521pagesrelatedtoOEwerefoundonFacebook.ThedataobtainedweretransferredtoMicrosoft(MS)Excel.

Whenthepagesandgroupswereanalyzed,pagesoriginatingfromcountriesotherthanTurkeyusedfordifferentpurposeswerealsodiscovered.Inaddition,pagesandgroupsofTurkishorigincontainingthesameabbreviationthoughunrelatedtoOEwereencountered.Asaresult,allofthepagesandgroupsuncoveredbythesearchwereanalyzedindividually.

Outof theFacebookpagesdiscovered,unrelatedpages suchasAOFTelemarkogVestfold,AOF Østfold,AOFMidt-Norge,AOF SYD,AOF NordAftenskole,AOF-AssociationdesOptométristesdeFrance,andAOFFrederiksberg-Københavnwereexcludedfromtheanalysis.Allunrelatedpages(N=201)wereexcludedfromthe total521pagesdiscovered,and theremaining320pageswere includedin theanalyses.Likewise,atotalof17groupswereexcludedfromtheoriginal207found,leaving190groupstobeincludedintheanalyses.TheinformationaccessedusingtheNetvizzapplicationwastransferredtoMSExcelfromanHTMLpage.ThepagesandgroupsdiscoveredwereorganizedandgivenanappropriateclassificationinMSExcel.Thedata’sanalysiswasalsoperformedinMSExcel.

Data Analysis NodeXLwasutilized toanalyze thedataobtained.NodeXL isoneof themost

widelyusedtoolsinsocialnetworkanalyses.Inadditiontoitsflexibleandsimplestructure,itsabilitytoworkwithdifferentdatasourceswasthereasonforpreferringthistool.ThedatathatwereanalyzedandclassifiedinMSExcelwereenteredintotheNodeXLapplication.Inthisway,separatesocialnetworkanalysesforpagesandgroupswerestarted.

TheFacebookgroupswereanalyzedfirst.TheoriginalnameofeachFacebookgroupwas entered into theNodeXLVertex 1 columnwhereas towhich categoryeachgroupbelongedwasenteredintotheNodeXLVertex2column.Groupswerecategorized by an independent researcher in addition to the main researchers.

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Groups’titlesandexplanationswerereadonebyoneandananalysiswasconductedtodeterminewhetherthegroupwasforeitheraprogram,acourse,asupportservice,oracommercialpurpose.Afteradding thecategories intoNodeXLVertex2, theywerecolor-codedaccordingtowhichuniversityagrouporiginated.

TheFacebookpageswereanalyzedduringthesecondphaseofthesocialnetworkanalysis.Aclassificationstrategysimilartotheoneusedforgroupswasfollowed.Categoriesandcolorsdeemedappropriatetobeusedforpageswereused.Inaddition,becausepages’like datawereaccessed,thenumberoflikeswereaddedtotheWidthcolumn ofVisual Properties. By doing so, pageswere analyzed in respect to thenumberoflikes.

FindingsTheresearchfindingsarepresented in two titles: (i)analysisofgroupsand (ii)

analysisofpages.

Analysis of Groups Aftereliminatingtheirrelevantones,190groupswereidentifiedandincludedin

theanalysis.Certain themeswere identifiedbycreating titlesanddescriptions forthesegroups.TheclassificationwascompletedbywritingeachofthesethemesnexttoitsrelevantgroupinMSExcel.Figure1belowshowshowmanygroupsfellundereachtheme.

AscanbeseeninFigure1,thethemescontainingthehighestnumbersofgroupsare sociology, general, child development, support services, theology, public administration, occupational health and safety, and justice.Whenthesethemesareanalyzed,itisobservedthatotherthangeneralandsupportservices,allthethemesarerelatedtoprograms.ThisshowsthatFacebookgroupscreatedforOEdealtmostlywithaparticularprogram.Furthermore,thatthereareclosetothirtygroupsrelatedtosociologyundergraduatedegreeprogramsandthatthisnumberisevenhigherthanthenumberofgeneralpurposegroupsisparticularlynoteworthy.

Asaresultoftheanalysisperformedtodeterminefromwhichuniversitypagesoriginated,itwasdiscoveredthatgroupswereeitherrelatedtoAnadoluUniversityOEprograms,AtaturkUniversityOEprograms,orIstanbulUniversityOEprograms,orhadacommercialpurpose.Whenthedistributionofgroupswithrespecttotheiroriginswasanalyzed,62%werefoundtohavebeencreatedforAnadoluUniversityOEprograms, 33% forAtaturkUniversityOEprograms, and the restwere eithercommercialorforIstanbulUniversityOEprograms.

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Figure 1. Distributionofgroupnumberswithrespecttothemes.

A network analysis of the groups was performed using Gephi, Netvizz, andNodeXL.TheholisticnetworkanalysispertainingtothegroupsfoundusingNetvizz(theFacebookapplicationofGephi)wasconductedinNodeXL.Groups’densityandcentrality characteristicswere investigated. In the query performedwithNetvizz,all groups containing the keywordAÖFwere downloaded intoMSExcel.Afterunrelatedgroupswereeliminated,thenumberofedgesforVertex1andVertex2weredeterminedusingthetitlesandexplanationscreatedforgroups.Vertex1containedthegroups’nameswhileVertex2containedgroups’themes.Inaddition,universityoriginsofgroupswasdeterminedfromtheexplanationsingroupsinformation.Basedonsocialnetworkanalysisgraphtheory,theFruchtermanReingoAlgorithmwasusedtodrawthegraph.ThenetworkgraphisprovidedinFigure2.

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Figure 2.Groups’FruchtermanReingoalgorithmgraph.

ThenetworkstructurepresentedinFigure2isanetworkstructuredrawnbytheFruchtermanReingoAlgorithm that brings forward theme-baseddensities. In thisnetworkstructure,connectionsrepresentthegroup(nameofthegroup)whereasnodesrepresentthethemes.Inthenetworkstructurethecolorblue showsgroupsrelatedtoAnadolu University OE, red shows groups related toAtaturkUniversityOE, andgreenshowsIstanbulUniversityOEprograms.Likewise,yellow showsthosegroupswithacommercialpurpose.Whenthegraphwasanalyzed,itwasobservedthattherewasadistributioninwhichthosegroupsrelatedtoAnadoluUniversityOEprogramswereatthecenter(centrality)andthattherewasadensityinfavorofgroupsrelatedtoAnadoluUniversityOEprograms.Outsideofthecenter,AtaturkUniversityhaveadensitywiththeOccupationalHealthandSafetyOEprograminparticular.

InordertobringforwardthedensityandcentralitycharacteristicsofOErelatedFacebookgroupswithrespecttothemes,asocialnetworkgraphwasdrawnusingtheHarel-KorenFastMultiscalealgorithm.Figure3belowpresentsthesocialnetworkgraph,inwhichcolorsrepresentgroups’universityoforigin,nodesrepresentthemes,andconnectionsrepresentgroups.

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Figure 3.Harel-Korenfastmultiscalealgorithmgraphforthegroups.

When the social network graph drawn using the Harel-Koren Fast Multiscalealgorithm is analyzed, it is observed that themes play a fundamental role indetermining density and centrality. Although the density related to AnadoluUniversityOEprogramscomestothefore,itwasobservedthatthemesformmorethanonecenter.Inparticular,groupsrelatedtosociologyprogramsformedadensityfar from thecenteron the toppartof thegraph.Likewise, social services, public administration, theology, justice, and child development programs formedgroupswithcertaindegreesofdensity.

Inorder to enhance the study’s comprehensiveness,notonlyFacebookgroups,FacebookpagesrelatedtoOEwerealsoanalyzed.

Analysis of the Pages Atotalof320pagesrelatedtoOEinTurkeywereincludedintheanalysis.After

analyzingpages’ titlesandonebyone, theywereclassifiedby theme.Aswas the

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case for groups, the themeswere controlled by four researchers.Themes and thetotalnumberoflikesreceivedbyallpagesfallingundereachindividualthemearepresentedinFigure4below.

Figure 4. Pages’themes andnumberoflikeseachthemereceived.

Theanalysisof themesrevealed thatgeneral purposeFacebookpages receivedthe highest number of likes.Among specific programs however, it is noteworthythat sociology again received the highest number of likes in pages.On the otherhand, the thirdmost liked themewassupport services. Includedunder this themeareinstitutionalpagescreatedtoprovidestudentswithorientationtotheinstitutionandrelatedOEservicesandinformation.FacebookpagesrelatedtoOEreceivingthemostlikesarepresentedinTable1.

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Table1Number of Likes Received by Facebook PagesFacebookPages LikesAÖF–OpenEducationFaculty 184,150AÖFSociologyGraduates 118,924AÖFSocialServices 75,539AÖFJUSTICE 70,464AÖFMyAnadolu-AnadoluUniversityOpenEducationSystem 68,289OpenEducationFacultiesStudentUnion{AÖF} 65,142OpenEducationFaculty(AÖF) 45,619AÖFPUBLICADMINISTRATION3RDYEARSTUDENTS(TransfersfromAssociateProgram)

44,795

AÖF Announcement 43,723AÖFBusinessAdministration 34,895AÖFPastExamQuestions 33,252AÖFSupportCenter 29,114AOF(OpenEducationFaculty) 28,841ATA-AÖF 27,731

Table1showsthatintermsoflikesreceivedbyFacebookpagesrelatedtoOE,Anadolu University and sociology programs are at the forefront. That AnadoluUniversityAÖFMyAnadolu,whichwasopenedat thebeginningof2016, founditselfin5thplaceinsuchashorttimeisalsoofremark.

NodeXLwasalsousedtoperformthenetworkanalysisofFacebookpages.Whenthe distribution of pages’ university of origin regardingwas analyzed, 74%werefoundtoberelatedtoAnadoluUniversityOEprograms,14%wereforcommercialpurpose, and the remainder were related to eitherAtaturk University or IstanbulUniversityOEprograms.ItisnoteworthythatthenumberofcommercialFacebookpagesrelatedtoOEishigh.Inthenetworkstructure,thecolorblue representspagesrelatedtoAnadoluUniversityOEprograms,yellowrepresentscommercialpages,red representspages related toAtaturkUniversityOEprograms,andgreen represents pagesrelatedto IstanbulUniversityOPprograms. Figure5belowdepictsthepages’graphdrawnusingtheFruchtermanReingoAlgorithm.

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Figure 5.Pages’FruchtermanReingoalgorithmgraph.

InthedrawingofthegraphgiveninFigure5,thenumberofedgesforVertex1andVertex2weredeterminedusingNodeXL.Vertex1showsthenameofthepagewhereasVertex2showsthethemetowhichthepagebelongs.Thenumberoflikes receivedbyapagewasalsousedwhereconducingpages’socialnetworkanalysis.VerticesinNodeXLweredesignatedaslike size.AnanalysisofFigure5revealstheexistenceofatheme-centricdistributioninwhichAnadoluUniversityhasthehighestdensity.Thisfindingshowsthatpages,unlikegroups,aredistributedacrossthemes ratherthanorigins.Itisalsonoteworthythatoutofthesethemes,thatofexam is most relatedtocommercial(yellow)pages.

InordertoanalyzeFacebookpagescreatedforOEaccordingtotheirthemesandnumber of likes,theHarel-KorenFastMultiscalealgorithmwasemployedtodrawasocialnetworkgraph.Here, theobjective is toreveal thedensitycharacteristicwithrespect to likes,andthecentralitycharacteristicwithrespecttothemes.Figure6belowshowsthesocialnetworkgraphinwhichcolorsrepresentorigin,nodesrepresenttheme,connectionsrepresentpages,andnodesizesrepresentsnumberoflikes.

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Figure 6.Pages’Harel-Korenfastmultiscalealgorithmgraph.

AcloserlookatFigure6revealstheexistenceofaclearnon-centricdistributionwithrespecttothemes.Itcanbesaidthatingeneral,theconstructedsocialnetworkstructurewasshapedwithrespecttothemesdistributedinaccordancewithprogramtypes.Whatisstrikinghereisthatthecommercial(yellow)pagesseenontheupperleftandbottommiddleofthegraphgainadegreeofdensityandstarttoformgroupsamongthemselves.

Discussion and ConclusionSince Facebook is widely used by OE students, the findings of this study are

significantfordeterminingtheOEstudents’trendsinFacebookuse.Analyzing190groupsand320pagesrelatedtoOEonFacebook,theresultsrevealedthatgroupscreatedforAnadoluUniversityOEprogramswerecentrallydistributedat62%.ThisfindingsuggeststhatthemajorityofsocialmediamobilityonFacebookinTurkeyis realized byAnadolu University. In other words, this result shows that amongallOE institutions,AnadoluUniversity is themost popular on Facebook.This ismostlybecauseAnadoluUniversity’sOEFacultyopenlyencouragesitsstudentstouseFacebooktoenhanceinstruction.AnotherreasonforthisresultmaybebecauseAnadoluUniversity has such a large number of learners that it considered to beamongtheworld’smegauniversities(Daniel,1996).

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Another finding is that the number of groups created for the undergraduatesociologyprogramwasgreaterthanthatforallotherprograms.Onereasonforthismaybebecausethesociologyprogramismoreopentosocialinteractioncomparedtootherprograms.ThisfindingsupportsthoseofWangetal.(2014),whofoundthatuniversitystudentsaremostlikelytousesocialmediaforsocialinteractionpurposes.AnotherstudysupportingthisfindingwasconductedbyBeerandBurrows(2007).Accordingly,weseethatthoseFacebookgroupsandpagesrelatedtosociologyinparticularhaveahighuserpercentage.

Except for general purposegroupsandsupport services purposegroups,allgroupsonFacebookwerecreatedtoserveaspecificprogram.NotonlydogroupscreatedfortheSociologyundergraduateprograminparticularexhibitadensityfarfromthecenter,theyarehigherinnumberthanallothergroups,evenhigherinnumberthanthetotalnumberofgroupscreatedforgeneralpurposes.Othergroupsshowingintra-groupingatacertaindensitythatwerefoundtobefarfromthecenterare(inorderoftheirdistancesfromthecenter)child development, theology, public administration, justice, and social services.Thisfinding,whichshowsthatgroupscreatedforcertainprograms show a density far from the graph’s center, is supported byDawson etal.(2011)whofoundthatlearnergroupsofdifferentinterestandbasispointsmayclusteratdifferentcenters.

Thestudyalsodeterminedthatinadditiontosociology,FacebookgroupscreatedforotherOEprogramsinTurkey(child development, theology, public administration, justice, and social services)areactivelyused.Since theseparticularOEprogramshaveapracticalapplicationinreallife,theirpagesandgroupshaveahighnumberof likes.Whenlookingatthecommoncharacteristicsoftheseprograms,it isseenthat theyprovideampleemploymentopportunitiesfor thosestudyingthem.ThesefindingsmatchthoseofRussoandKoesten(2005)whofoundthatuniversitystudentsparticipatedmorefrequentlyinprestigiousnetworkshavingcentrality and real life application.

GroupsandpagescreatedforOEprogramswerefoundtobewellstructuredandactivelymanagedbytheiradministrators.ThisfindingsupportsthoseofDeVilliers(2010)whofoundthatlearnersaccessedwell-structuredFacebookgroupsandpagesmoreearnestly.Furthermore,consistentwithDeVilliers’(2010)findingsisthefactthattheAnadolu University AÖF My Anadolupagereached5th place in terms of likes despitehavingbeencreatedatthebeginningof2016,whichisduepossibilitytothefactthatitisactivelymanagedbypageadministrators.

ThenumberoflikeswasusedtodeterminethethemesofFacebookpagescreatedforOE.Theanalysisfoundgeneral purposepagestohavethehighestnumberoflikes.Thereasonforthismaybethatpromotionalpagesopenedbycorporateaccountswere

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visitedmorefrequently.Similartogroups,pagesrelatedtoSociologywerefoundtohavethehighestnumberoflikes.Likewise,thehighnumberoflikesforpagesrelatedto social services, justice, and public administration programs were found to besimilartotheirgroupcounterparts.Moreover,support servicespages,whichaimedtoprovideinformationandintroductionstostudents,foundthemselvesinthirdplacein terms of number of likes, similar to theirgroupcounterparts.Thecurrentstudyalso found thatuniversitiesusedFacebookgroupsandpages forsupport services.Relatedly, Junco (2012) concluded that support services provided to universitystudentsonFacebookareimportant inpreparinglearnersforcourses.Consideringthatopenanddistancelearnersneedsupportservices(McLoughlin,2002;Thorpe,2002)tohelpthemresolvethemanyobstaclestheyfaceduringlearningprocesses(Ludwig-Hardman&Dunlap,2003),officialFacebookgroupsandpagesprovidingsupportservicesplayafundamentalroleinfacilitatinglearnerstofindeasysolutionsfortheirneeds.

Thesocialnetworkanalysisonpagesfoundthatcontrarytogroups,pagesweredistributedonthebasisofthemesratherthanorigins.Therelationbetweencommercialand examination oriented pages shows that commercial initiatives seek to exploitstudents’examanxietyratherthancreatingactualcontent.Whenlookingatthemes,itisobservedthatthereisanon-central,significantdistributionandthatsocialnetworkstructure isgenerallyshapedby the themes’distribution.Oneof themoststrikingfindingsisthatFacebookpagescreatedforcommercialpurposesclusterbygainingdensityamongthemselves.ThisfindingshowsthatcommercialinitiativesfocusingonOEhavegrownrapidlyandhaveevenbecomeaseparate,independentsector.

ThesocialnetworkanalysisfoundthatthenumberofFacebookpagescreatedforOEwithcommercialpurposes isveryhigh.Otherstudies in the literaturesupportthisfinding.Chan(2011), forexample,includedcommercialadsfoundonpagestoincreasestudents’useof theuniversitylibrary’sFacebookpage,resultingintwicethenumberofvisitorstoit.Aimingtoincreaseuniversitystudents’interactionsonFacebookgroupsthroughtheuseofviralmarketingstrategies,Chu(2011) found not onlydidthatadvertisementsformarketingpurposesincreaselearners’interactiononFacebook,butalsothatlearnersstartedtodevelopamorepositiveattitudetowardsocialmediause.Themarketingandadvertisementstrategiesofcommercialpagesarethoughttocontributetotheircontinuouslyincreasingpresenceonsocialmedia.Assuch,itisthoughtthatmarketingstrategiesmaybeusednotonlytoreachouttomorelearnersonsocialmediabutalsotoensurebettercommunication.Further,thatthenumberofcommercialpagesonFacebookishigherthanthenumberofgroupscreated for learningpurposes shows that it is easier to usepages for promotionalpurposesthangroups.Thismaybebecausecontentsharedincertainmembers-onlygroupscannotbeaccessedbynon-membersofsaidgroup.

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Suggestions

Recommendations for Application It ispossibletomakecertainsignificantproposalsfor implementationbasedon

the results of social network analysis.Accordingly, in addition to program-basedsharings,supportserviceshavestarted tomakesignificantuseofsocialmediaforOEpurposesinTurkey.Onthisbasis,onemaysuggestthatOEinstitutionsintegratesupportservicesintosocialmediamorethoroughly.

One of the most important results obtained from the social network analysesconducted in this study is that certainprograms are clearlymore activeon socialmedia than others.With sociology being in the lead, groups and pages for social services, occupational health and safety, theology, public administration, justice, and child development programswerewidely accessed onFacebook.These programsmaybesaidtoattempttomeetthestudents’currentneedsintheirdailylives,andforthisreasonarethoughttokeepretainlearners’continuedinterestinandaccesstothem.ConsideringtheuniqueroleofOEinTurkishsocietyandhighereducationandthatadultlearningaimstobeapplicabletoreallife,thisspecificresultfindsmeaning.Therefore,institutionsandorganizationsofferingOEservicesmaybeadvisedtoopenprogramswithampleemploymentopportunitiesaddressingcurrentreallifeneeds.

Thesocialnetworkanalysesconductedinthisstudyshowthatfor-profitventureshave been growing at a steady pace, rendering certain factors to have gained acertaindegreeofimportanceforuniversities.Particularly,sincecommercialventurestargeting student anxiety toward examinations are observed to have increased innumber,moreworkshouldbedonetoaddressstudents’examanxiety.Thechaptersummaries, sound recordings of these summaries, leaflet tests, and pilot examsavailableviaAnadoluUniversity’sOpenEducationSystemmayserveasanexampleforotherOEinstitutions.Supplyingsimilarexammaterials to learnersmaybeanimportantstepindiminishingsuchcommercialrelatedinitiatives.

The current study also reveals that social media in general and Facebook inparticularconstituteaneffectivevenueforensuringthatOElearnersreceivegreaterbenefits from instruction. Instructors teaching inOE institutionsmay thereforebeadvisedtousesocialmedia,suchasFacebook,aspartoftheirinstructionsoastostudents’academicsuccess.

StudentsofOEinstitutionsmaybeadvisedtotakeactivepartinFacebookgroupsandpagescreatedtoaidinstructionassuchparticipationmayfacilitate:(i)greateracademic success; (ii) socialization through communication with other studentsattending the same program; (iii) their ability to benefit from pages and groupscreatedtoprovidesupportservices;and(iv)theirabilitytoaccessusefulinformationsharedonthesepagesandgroupswhilepreparingforexams.

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Recommendations for Further Research Thefindingsofthisstudycanbebenefittedfrominfuturestudies,andcomprehensive

studies can be conductedwith different socialmedia components. Similar to thisstudy,studiescanbecarriedoutnationwide inTurkey,orsocialnetworkanalysescanbemadeincertainspecificfields.Inthisvein,severalresearchquestionstobeaddressedareprovidedbelow:

i. DoesusingsocialmediainOpenEducationhaveasignificanteffectonstudents’academicachievements,interests,andmotivations?

ii. WhatsocialmediainstrumentsareavailableOEinTurkeyandwhattrendsdotheyexhibit?

iii. Whatare theopinionsand recommendationsof studentsandfieldexperts inregardstousingsocialmediaforOpenEducation?

iv. What are the reasons that programs actively use socialmedia in accordancewithtoday’srequirementswhilealsoprovidingemploymentopportunities?

v. WhatstrategiesandtechniquescanbeemployedwhileusingsocialmediaforOpenEducation?

vi. What kinds of features and characteristics should anOpenEducation socialmediaaccounthaveifitistoreachalargeaudience?

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Determining Open Education Related Social Media … · Facebook also draws attention for being the most accessed social network site in ... see that the most widely used social media